Gucci Eat Your Heart Out....

[Beaverslayer]

Aurelie, Thank you...

I had actually told her that for "Family" I would charge her $180.00, but she insisted on paying the full retail price.

There is a fair amount of work in this one, but most of that is lacing, even at full price it works out to about $20.00 per hour plus materials.

Thank you Chad, much appreciated.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Beaverslayer

[Aurelie]

It always "flatten" me on the ground when i read you guys across the pond (aka atlantic ocean) talking about prices

and i often forget that if i would like to do the same , sell it and get a wee bit of cash to pay my bills at the end of the month i would have to charge almost 3 times the price ....'cause of shipping fee, custom fee, taxes and so on

For example, last May i was in Sheridan WY talking with some US saddle makers about the price of the material in order to build a saddle (without counting the working price)

turned out the cost in the USA is roughly 800 $ => same material for me (once i get it in France) is roughly 1500 $

Looking at it this way...it's just plain crazy......

See guys those braided romals with kangaroo? i wanted to get a shot at trying it?

bought some books on braiding?

i just dropped the idea : see the price of kangaroo? + the time spent to braid a romal?

i ve seen many romals sold around 600 $ in the USA...but i know that no one in Europe is ready to pay that much for a romal...just dropped the idea :/

too bad

Geez , you just would make HUGE money selling those in Europe! :D

Add to that : your job is AWSOME.....how did I call you? King of Purses?? Right!

AhAh

Edited November 29, 2012 by Aurelie

[Beaverslayer]

Aurelie,

If you know how to lace, and have a desire to do this kind of work, they are not that hard to make. The hardest part actually is coming with a design that customers will buy. If you Google handbags, there must be millions of pictures and all together I'd say there may be only a few hundred different styles.

This one is actually a style that Gucci makes, it's just a bit bigger and a different color, with fancier stuff done to it. In total, there is less than 2 square feet of lambskin and even less veg tan leather, with about 100 feet of lace. You could almost build it out of scrap leather.

I encourage you to delve into making one, just to see how little material there actually is. Also, for purses and such, you don't have to use kangaroo lace, you can also use goat lace, and even cut your own lace from a garment goat hide, this will greatly reduce your cost of materials.

If you have a sewing machine, you can also sew them together, and just add embellishments of exotic leathers or lacing to make them "POP" and catch the attention of potential buyers.

Good Luck....I hope to see pictures soon

[Aurelie]

will try and show you

thx Mr Beaver

[Beaverslayer]

Aurelie,

Glad to hear you are going to try, if you run into any problems, feel free to ask for help, I am more than willing to give you any help you may need.

[Aurelie]

:D i will take your word ...My "Lord of the purses" :D

Maybe another carreer laying in front of me héhéhé who knows

already got some crazy ideas

[Beaverslayer]

Aurelie,

I just had a look at your website...you do excellent work, you shall have no problems making purses or anything else to catch the eye of potential buyers.

[Aurelie]

a Long road laying ahead of me

I am a "rookie" in leatherworking

so i guess i only can improve with time (like wine )

My work is far from being perfect but i try to do my best each time and to learn as much as i can from anybody around willing to share

I try to understand the whys, the pro and cons of doing sthg this way or another way...and find what suit me (to be honest : sometimes easy things i can't do while i can perform some tough stuff ...go figures

1 step by 1 step ...Rome has not been built overnight as they say ...so are my skills

[LoneStar]

Thats a great handbag! Very nice!

[Beaverslayer]

Thanks LoneStar, much appreciated.